The grower programme makes dreams come true

The grower programme makes dreams come true – Fidelis Adie has tripled his crops and is investing in quality.

Fidelis Adie grows cocoa in the Etung region in Nigeria. He maintains three farms, and before the grower programme, his annual cocoa crop was 3,200 kilos. There were challenges, though: the trees were old and the crops were weak, with farm management being insufficient and insects and plant diseases wreaking havoc. Expenses related to pesticides were high.

During the grower programme, Adie learned how to increase the amount and quality of cocoa beans. He also learned about the effects that heavy spraying of chemicals has on natural waterways, as well as about fertilisers and integrated plant protection. On his own farms, he applied what he had learned, followed the instructions and started to use the fertiliser he had been given during the training. As a result, his crop increased by 200 per cent to 9,600 kilos, with his use of pesticides decreasing by more than 50 per cent.

Thanks to this incredible increase, Adie was able to make one of his dreams come true: to buy more land. He encourages other farmers to closely follow the principles of the grower programme, so they will be able to produce healthy, higher-quality cocoa beans for the market. He hopes that the grower programme in Nigeria will continue, so cocoa farming will be able to restore its former position in the country and farmers will be able to improve their standard of living.